Maks Chmerkovskiy Talks Balancing Work and Love with Girlfriend Peta Murgatroyd, Calls Time Apart 'a Hiccup' Along the Way

Chmerkovskiy admits that he and Murgatroyd, 29, must make an effort to keep in touch as she travels around the country on this summer’s Dancing with the Stars Live! tour. But, says the former pro, a brief time apart is only a small bump in their journey.

“We just decide to not go longer than a couple weeks [without seeing each other],” Chmerkovskiy tells PEOPLE at the 10th anniversary party for Dance with Me, a chain of dance studios that he co-founded. “It’s a hiccup in the grand scheme of things. There’s a whole life together depending on how you take of yourself.”

As for another relationship that scores a perfect 10, the bad boy of ballroom remarks to PEOPLE that he and brother Val – DWTS‘s reigning champ – have never squabbled, not even as children: “You grow up with constant reminders [from your parents] that, ‘When we die, it’s just the two of you.’ You can’t be fighting. We never fought. We never argued.”

There is one exception to their harmony. Chmerkovskiy notes, “We’ve disagreed on some political issues. I am [a] very right[-wing] kind of type; he’s very liberal.”

Chmerkovskiy’s friendship with Olympic ice skaterMeryl Davis is also going strong. After winning season 18 of Dancing with the Stars, the pals have remained close. “We were hanging out a couple days ago in [Los Angeles],” Chmerkovskiy reveals. “She’s a family friend now, and she’s more than just my friend. She’s a friend of everybody that I’m friends with.”